Argh it's so beautiful! - A guide on how to avoid Mary Sues
by Tyrannical Songbird
Summary: "Your character is a total Mary Sue!" Reviews like that can make an author unhappy, but most Mary Sue tests are just way too judgemental and don't fit a Fandom like Young Justice. So I present to you a humorous guide on how to make an OC that is not a Mary Sue in Young Justice. (T for language, newest Chapter: Names)
1. Rose Ruby Red and Emily Smith: Names

It's not a bad thing to have a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu, and if you don't want to, you don't have to change your character in any way. All of us had at least one – and if people actually flame you for having one, they're idiots.

But if you want a character, that other people like and maybe even feel with, you maybe want to think about changing him or her. This is going to be some sort of guide that maybe can help you.

Most Mary Sue tests tend to be overly harsh. They make it out so only a morbidly obese, extremely ugly, talentless character with an IQ of 40 is not a Mary Sue. And that's wrong. Every character can be a Mary Sue, and every character can be believable and relatable too.

This guide is mostly intended for Young Justice/DC in General, and will include some short, little stories from time to time. Of course, no one forces you to do anything you read in here, and I'm not an expert – but maybe it'll help you, still. Because I'm lazy, I'll mostly write about Sues, but most things count for Stus too. Starting from this chapter, I'll build a character – following those steps, so in the end, we'll maybe have a cool, believable character.

So let's do this, shall we?

But what to start with? I know – Names!

There are a few things you have to think about and consider before naming your character. Where is she from? What's her species? When was she born? What are her parents like? Do I want her to be a hero or a villain?

Those are just a few things you might want to consider. But why? Let's take a closer look!

An all American girl from Kansas probably won't be named Lavyndi'r Styll'Ryviir, and an Alien from a planet far, far away won't be named Amber Brown – Unless you're aiming for a comedic effect, just as a school girl from Japan won't be known as Jackie Smith and her friend from Canada probably isn't called Yuki Hamasaki – unless their parents are American in Jackie's, and Japanese in Yuki's case.

While DC isn't too realistic, you'll notice that everyone's name is fitting their ethnicity and origin. Dick Grayson, Wally West and Conner Kent are names fitting for American boys. Conner even has two names, as his Kryptonian name is Kon-El. Likewise, Kaldur'Ahm and M'Gann are great names for a mythical being like an Atlantean and a girl from Mars. In Miss Martian's case, who's alias is a white girl, Megan Morse is also a great secret identity. It's a name fitting her.

Now, Artemis Crock may be a little of an oddball, but her name is fitting for her character - being an archer. Also, it is some sort of pun. Artemis - "hard to miss". It's a rare name, yes, but it doesn't give you the impression that the writer's us it for any "special snowflake" points.

And after all, a rare name doesn't have to unfitting, as this fandom is rather... forgiving of strange things.

Many parents go with a popular name when naming their child. In my generation, there are many girls named Lisa, Nadine, Nicole or Julia, and many boys named Jan, Phillip, Maximilian or Kevin. My name wasn't very popular back then, over here you'll see more women and their 30s and 40s named that. So my parents were a little more creative.

Now, were your character's parents too? Or did they go with the flow. When their daughter was born in 1997, did they name her Emily, Jessica or Ashley like many parents did, or did they like a name that wasn't that popular, like Ellie or Donna? Or did they want a special name and chose something like Alayna, Essence or Abbigail?

Again, you maybe want to consider where your character grew up again. If you need a name, there are tons of sites you can look up, that have statistics on names based on popularity and place.

There is no need to give your African American character a stereotypical name like Shaniqua or Latisha, though. I think they're beautiful names, but if all your black girls are named like that, you may come off as someone who thinks that all black people are stereotypically "ghetto". If your character is from an English speaking country, she could be an Emily or a Nora, and if she's from Germany, she could be a Karoline or Leonie. After all, not all black people are "ghetto" or African American.

As for Asian characters - I noticed that in the US at least, many of them tend to have an English name and a Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean/Insert more Countries surname. If your character's parents are of a different ethnicity than were they live, they may do that. Same goes for every ethnicity, not just for Asians. Of course, they also can have a name like Momoko Obata, or, if their parents have lived in America for generations, she might even be named Lilly Smith. But as for a rule of thumb, consider your character's ethnicity when naming them.

We were at the subject of parents, right? Well, that brings me to another thing. Almost every name has a meaning, and parents sometimes like to give their child a name with a nice meaning.

Rose, Daisy and Lilly are names of pretty flowers - so for those parents, their daughter was a pretty as a flower. Same with Ruby, Pearl and Diamond. Rare, precious stones (and some sort of seashell... thingie?) that are beautiful.

If parents name their child something like Liberty, Charity or Joy, they might hope she'll grow up showing these traits.

My parents named my brother Peter, with his middle name being Rolf, after my dad. Peter means "rock", and they wanted him to be strong and stable, like a rock. Rolf means wolf, and while my brother doesn't really show any traits of this name, my Dad used to love them. His nickname at work even was "Lobo" - The Wolf. My sister's middle name is Julia, which means beautiful. And well, my sister used to be a model and now plays in several indie films.

My name is Viktoria Irene – Kinda lame, I know. My first name translates to "The one who wins". Doesn't fit me much, but my parents wanted me to be optimistic and a winner. My other name is the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace. In fact, my first name is the name of the Roman goddess of victory. So I'm named after two goddesses. That they knew. I think they just wanted me to be badass like that.

So while naming your character with a name that has a special meaning is okay, please think about her parents. Would parents name their child "Darkness Bloodrain Agony"? Nah, they probably wouldn't. I don't think anyone would let them either.

And one more thing: If the meaning describes the character's personality or interests, how did she get that name?

Nothing wrong with a happy girl named Joy, or a florist named Rose from time to time, but if your character is a pyromaniac named Flame, that only wears red, orange and yellow and goes by "Firestarter", you might will have to explain yourself.

So to be short: Meanings are great if used in moderation!

Now, why did I ask about if she's a hero or a villain. Well, names tend to have an effect on you if you hear them. A good character's name often includes a lot of vowels and soft consonants like L or N. A bad guy has less vowels and hard consonants such as K, R and T. Of course, those aren't guide lines per say (Like Clark Kent and Lex Luthor), but you often see that.

For example, compare Wally West and Len Snart. Wally rolls right of your tongue, while Snart almost sounds angry. Hard consonants often sound aggressive, because you either have to "spit" them out, like a T, or "choke" like a K. Those sounds are the reason why German sounds angry to non-German speakers, and why Finnish or Japanese sounds so soft and more friendly.

You might want your character to have a "nomen est omen" like name, that gives your readers a first expression just by her name.

Compare Sophia Brown to Cassandra Black. Both a completely normal names, but while Sophia Brown sounds smooth, Cassandra Black has a lot of "hard" sounds. I mean, BlaCK. It ends with such a rough sound – Which is why I named my sona that. Black, not Cassandra.

It's not too important, but it can be nice to have "fitting" names like that.

And of course, all those tips count for boys as well. And for surnames. Basically, just consider those points.

Now some things you may want to avoid – But I can't force you, I'm not your mom.

While some noun's are used as names, such as Gem, Pearl, Robin, Daisy or River; try to stay away from those that aren't used as names. Darkness, Blood, Wind, Widow, Agony are all names I've read that just... wouldn't work for a character, unless they named themselves. They might work for a hero alias, but I've yet to meet a parent that would name their child Darkness.

Unless your character is an alien or another non-human being, try to avoid weird spellings of names and nouns alike. Koriand'r works well for an alien like Starfire, but a human named Joo'ceelyn'Na? Better think about it again.

Don't use too many names, especially not with the same or similar meanings. Ruby Rose Red for a character with fiery red hair and red eyes? Bit of an overkill. A normal middle class girl named Crystal Blue Pearl Catherine Anne Barbara Green III. might be better off as Crystal Green and leave that long name for a rich character with slightly snobby parents.

So, we've got the points down now pretty well - So let's make a name for our new character. Let's make her American, with a Russian mother and an America father. I like the name Wright for a surname. It's not too uncommon and sounds "strong", at least to me. Now, as for a name – Do we want something Russian, maybe? Or English? Or something else that fits a teenage girl living somewhere in the Northeast of the US? Praskoviya may be a nice name, but it doesn't fit too well - It's sort of unfitting, too long, too hard to pronounce. Stanislava has the same problem. But there are some names that are used in Russia and the English speaking countries alike. Tanya, Natasha, Sasha, Lana – Wait, I like Sasha. Let's test it!

Sasha Wright. Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? It combines a "soft" name (Sasha rolls off your tongue nicely!) and a strong, harder name. It does stand out a little – Sasha is not too common of a name, but it doesn't sound too strange either.

It's a name that fits the setting. And with that, our new character finally has a name.

In the next chapter, we'll talk about hair – yes, that'll get a whole chapter, don't question me on that. And in that chapter, we'll explore why it's a bad idea to have hair up to your ankles when you're fighting without superpowers, and why an Amazon with pink, blue and purple hair may be a little hard to explain.


	2. Hairy Affairs: All about Hair

Whoa, Jesus! I got a ton of reviews on that first chapter! Glad you folks like this – I'm doing my best not to be insulting. I'm kind of jerk usually, haha.

But seriously. I got five reviews in like... two hours. Damn. Thanks, guys!

So, let's get to chapter... and part 2.

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**Your character's hair and you... Or something like that.**

There are basically five hair colors a human can naturally have. Blonde, red, brown, black and white. White hair is pretty much reserved for old people - as the hair loses it's pigment. Even albinos rarely have white hair. Most of the time, it's a light blonde. So no, those white-haired, red eyes albinos you see in anime (and animals) are not realistic.

So if your character is a normal teenage human, you can choose from any shade of the other colors. There are hundreds of shades to choose from. Don't be shy, take one you like.

Maybe you want your character to have blue or pink or green or bright red hair, though. And that's okay – Because there is, after all, hair dye. Consider that she'll maybe have the roots shining through, though, if she doesn't dye it for a while, and that it'll wash out gradually. But overall – Don't be shy here either. There is nothing wrong with hair dye, unless your character looks like she fell into five different cans of color. That usually means you should... tone it down a little.

Now, what if the character is not human? Well, think about the species first! Shape-shifters like Miss Martian can have any color they choose to have, but here you should also show some moderation. Nothing wrong with inky black or maybe rosy red hair, but if it become a "sparkling rainbow" it maybe is a little too much.

If it's a canon species, try too keep it within those colors too. Atlanteans have varying hair colors, while Kryptonians are those of human hair. As a rule of thumb, keep it a little realistic and, very importantly, don't try to justify natural bi-colored hair.

I don't mean brown hair with lighter or darker streaks with that. I mean black hair with natural blonde bangs and red tips. Seriously, this especially counts for human characters. She can dye her hair those colors, but... yeah, let's just not.

So we've got the basics about color down, yeah? Then we should talk about hair length and styling now.

If your character's mainly battling with melee-weapons and martial arts, don't make her hair too long. Black Canary and Wonder Woman are kind of pushing it already, but I've seen Mary Sues that could still fight perfectly with hair that went to their knees. And that's too much.

Hair's gonna get pulled and ripped out, it's gonna get caught EVERYWHERE, especially if it's not in a ponytail or braided. I used to have very long hair, and let me tell you, it's a bitch to even put on some clothes if your hair is that long. So if she must have hair that long and she does fight, either give her long distance-weapons/powers that work that way or make her wear her had in a braid/ponytail to fight. And you better weaponize that braid too, because heck, people are gonna pull on that too. How about a spiked hair ribbon?

On human characters, you should stop at hair that is waist-length. Of course, some people may have longer hair, but especially for a teenage girl, it' won't be much longer. As for alien species, Atlanteans and others – You can make it longer, but if it starts dragging on the ground, it maybe is time for a haircut. How about short hair for a change? A cute pixie-cut, maybe? Or shoulder length hair held in pig tails from time to time? Or maybe a dandelion cut? Pick up a hair magazine or google "hairstyle" to get tons of inspiration!

A little tip concerning Scene-hair and other crazy hairstyles: If your character is a hero or a villain, but especially if she's a hero, hair that needs an hour to style isn't practical. Especially if she wears extensions in it, along with a million hair accessories. It's just gonna be impractical and look much too... loaded. Moderate Scene-hair should be fine, though - But if it looks like a myspace selfie from 2010, it's probably the last thing a fighter needs.

Too often I read about "glossy, straight hair" as well. Especially if it's extremely long. Especially if it's "a shade of blue as dark as midnight". Seriously, there are more hair textures than that. How about wavy hair? Or curls? I don't know about you guys, but I'd love to see some curly haired ladies kicking butt!

Which brings me to my next point, though. And that is very important I think, maybe even more important than my other points – describing hair.

Your character can have beautiful hair. I can be silky and be a beautiful shade of strawberry red and if it's windy, it can flow as much as it wants. That doesn't make your character a Mary Sue. What could make her one, though, is describing it in the wrong way. Let me give you an example, featuring my Sona Jane who was short, fluffy and black hair.

_"She sighed as she opened the window and looked into the mirror, her hairbrush in her hand, her eyes on her hair. It was rather short and fluffy, it's color being a deep black, darker than any shadow, reflecting the light because it was so shiny, covering her forehead with thick bangs. On the sides of her face, two slightly longer strands hung down, framing her face, just like the numerous other, but shorter strands sticking out of her fluffed up hair. She stroked through her hair with another sigh, feeling her raven locks. […] "Yeah, I know." Jane said, stroking back her her thick, shiny, midnight black hair. […] She chuckled as he touched her pitch black locks, feeling their silkyness..."_

See what I did there? I like to call that overkill. You want to avoid describing your character's looks in a block like that. I often see that with ALL their looks, but even if you just do it with one thing, it gets a little... overwhelming. Also, after hearing it for the sixth time, everyone will know that her hair is beautiful, silky and shiny. Let's try again, now a little less... detailed and described by another character, as I prefer it when characters get introduced like that. Just a personal preference, though.

_"He didn't talk much to Jane. He just saw her in the hallways sometimes, tuning her banjo or brushing her short, black hair in front of her locker. It looked sort of funny to him, he thought, a bit like a fluffy dandelion - if it weren't for the fact that the color didn't fit, and that there were those two strands just hanging down on both sides of her face. But hair like a weird dandelion or not, she was sort of mean, and he didn't really like her."_

In that shorter paragraph I did not only describe Jane's hair, but also some personality (her being mean) and a hobby (playing banjo). If it were longer, I'd be able to describe more, too, without spending too much time describing her. We'll talk about describing in another chapter soon, but these are the basics – don't tell everything at once.

Seriously, your readers will like small bits and pieces much more than a full on description. It's easier to chew to say it with a weird metaphor.

So, what did we learn in this chapter? Not to give our characters too long, crazily colored and awfully long described hair. To be sensible with our hair choices, I guess. And that beautiful hair doesn't make the Sue – The too long description does.

Now what about our character, Sasha Wright? Well, from what we've learned above, I think I'd like her to have brown hair. Maybe a light brown. I like a color called "Medium Ash Brown". It looks a little like lightly browned toast, or like... well, ash. So she's gonna have ash brown hair, but in which style?

Well, I think a pixie cut would be nice. It's cute, practical and looks charming - So I'm gonna choose that. Maybe she'll have a cowlick on the back of her head too? That's a nice little thing to add, and that makes your character a little different, even though it's such a tiny little detail to add.

So now our character is names Sasha Wright and has an ash brown pixie cut with a cowlick.

Until next chapter, because there we're going to add a face and a body - To make her more than a named, floating mob of hair!

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Small author's note thingie:

I'm not an expert on any of those things, and I don't believe I'm that good of a writer. I just like to create characters and try to make them appealing. And as people say that they like my characters, I try to show people what I think about when I make one.

Hope you liked it so far, though

-Bird


	3. Let's face it: Face and Eyes

Some info and disclaimer real quick: I'll try to update every Wednesday and Sunday. Also, I don't own any DC-Characters,

unfortunately, else, Captain Cold would be the main character in everything.

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We got names and hair done, so what are we going to do now? Ah, why am I even asking you guys, you read it in the last chapter.

This time, it's all about the looks!

Most Mary-Sue tests will count good looks as a huge Mary-Sue factor. You know what? That's actually not true – In fact, it's bullshit most of the time. In most Fandoms, all the characters look good – All Young Justice characters, at least the good guys, are either pretty or handsome after all. Let's not count Miss Martian's true form, even though I think it's pretty too. But overall, there is no reason why your OC shouldn't be a pretty character too.

Even if the tests tell you that the only characters that wouldn't be Mary Sues should look like a morbidly obese Steve Buscemi.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll do the looks in two points – Face ad , eyes will get their own sub-chapter, as they're freaking important. So let's get this started, 'kay pals?

More than just a pretty Face?

Have you ever realized how many shapes faces can have? Many are oval or round, maybe heart- or diamond-shapes, rectangular or triangular and even square. And they all have the potential to look great. If you're into drawing and draw your characters, you could try stepping away from the often typical heart-shaped faces you see in anime and try out other things.

Don't be scared to experiment. Imagine you're making a Sim. Use your imagination! How about a slightly wider jaw? Or high cheek bones? Maybe full, round cheeks and a small chin? There are thousands of possibilities that will make your character a little more special without trying to hard.

However, the face is not the only thing that can have a shape. What about ears, nose, mouth and eyebrows? You can be as creative as you want when it comes to those! Sure, many OC's have cute little ears, a button nose; full, light-pink lips and thin eyebrows - and there's nothing wrong with that -, but there are so many things that can look just as cute and just as beautiful.

How about ears without earlobes and a slightly wider, but still upturned nose? And while we're at it, let's add a slightly wider mouth with lips that aren't evenly full, as in a smaller upper- and a fuller lower lip, plus neatly trimmed, full eyebrows. You don't have to describe it all at once, and I'd actually tell you not to, but it's fun to think about it and will give your OC some more "special" points without looking out of place.

What can be important, however, is the hair you give your character. Some haircuts go with every shape, while some are better for square-faced characters. Pick up another hairstyling-magazine or google some examples if you're not sure.

But no matter what you do, I'll say it again, don't feel like you have to make her ugly. Do it, if you want. Give her acne or reddened skin or buckteeth or blackheads as flaws. Those are all things, many people have, and if described accurately – I'll give you an example later on – They can make your character a little easier to relate to.

As for skin color – Be creative. There are many different skin tones, and lots of ethnicities. I personally tend to have more white characters, being... white and living in a place that doesn't have many people of color. In general, though, and especially in Young Justice, you can have characters of any skin color and ethnicity. Just try not to make them a stereotype.

Window's to the Soul

You remember how I told you that eyes are freaking important? Well, they bloody are! I swear, while they're such a small detail, eyes can actually add to how much of a Mary Sue a character is. While beautiful eyes are not a Mary Sue-trait in itself - look at the canon characters, nobody can tell me that Dick, Wally, Kaldur, Conner, Artemis, M'Gann and pretty much everyone else don't have stunning eyes -, they can easily become one if you get a little overzealous when describing them.

But first things first. Similar to hair, there are only a few colors - including different shades - eyes can have on a human. Those are brown (including amber and to a certain extent hazel), blue, green (also to some extent hazel) and gray. People who are albinos may also have pink or slightly purple eyes.

Only brown and gray eyes are "pure", as there are only three different "pure colors". Those and yellow. Those mix and give you your eye color.

Hazel, amber, blue and green eyes are not fully "pure", as they're a mixture or colors and may "shift" a little. Light eyes in general can change their color a little bit in some people. They may change color from a grayish blue to a slightly greenish color, but it's impossible for eyes to actually change from, let's say, blue to brown and red because of something like emotions, unless your OC has powers like that.

True purple eyes don't exist. Some shades of blue may look a little violet, only albinos can have purple eyes. Most of the time, they're still a little pink and mostly a very light color. On that note, red eyes don't exist in human either. Human albinos' eyes can be light blue, purple or pink. Asian and black people that are albinos range from a light brown, over blue, purple and dark pink, to silverish and a reddish-brown, but true red eyes don't exist in humans. Unless you use colored contacts, of course.

Pure black eyes don't exist either. They can be a very dark brown, but never black. But if your character is not human or Kryptonian. In some cases, metas don't count either. Look at Professor Zoom after his death. White/silver hair and bright red eyes? Welp, I'm creeped out by that.

Eyes can have specks of other colors, and often they also are a mixed color. You can be pretty creative. Blue and green with amber specks are not uncommon, neither are grayish blue eyes with a green tint, or, like in my case, brown with a thin green ring. Generally, you ca be creative again, as long as you don't go overboard with your human character.

You may have heard of heterochromia. It's a difference in coloration, and in this case, of the eyes. If someone has, let's say, a brown and a hazel eye, they have heterochromia of the eyes. It's not really a health defect and purely aesthetic most of the time. There are also central heterochromia - for example a blue eye with a broad yellow ring around the iris - and sectoral heterochromia. In the latter, only a sector of the eye is different. Example? A green eye with a brown sector. As far as I know, they can be combined. A green eye with a yellow ring and a brown sector would be possible. But I'm not a biologist either, so don't fully trust me on that.

Heterochromia can occur naturally, at birth, or can be acquired by inflammation, injury and similar things. Please don't punch yourself in the eye because you want heterochromia, though. That'd be a shitty idea.

So, no we have the genetics down, we can talk about what makes eyes a Mary Sue trait. Other than unfitting colors in a natural setting, for example.

Try to avoid descriptions that are too detailed, again. Oh, and try not to compare the color with a gem, at least not in a "eyes that looked like shining sapphires" way.

Also, orbs and other synonyms can look horribly tacky. Let your OC have "large and friendly grass-green eyes" that have

"amber speckles" instead of "shimmering orbs of a beautiful green similar to that of fresh grass and golden speckles, like shining amber, around the iris".

See how forced and tacky such description can look? We just made the same eyes look rather normal and then like a Mary Sue's just by describing them differently.

Do you remember Jane from the last chapter? Well, she is back as our test subject again! This time, we'll try to describe her face and eyes - First in a Mary-Sueish way and then like I would describe her normally.

"Other than her shiny black hair, Jane had a rather pretty face. It was a little long with a narrow chin and high cheekbones, but her cheeks still looked full. Her lips were a little thin, and whenever she opened her mouth slight buckteeth were exposed, resting against the pink color of her lips. Her nose was a little long and thin, ending with an upturned tip. Jane's eyebrows were almost always covered by her bangs, but when they were showing, two dark and full, slightly arched lines were above her eyes, which were rather large with long, dark lashes that got fuller on the outer corners of her eyes. Their color was a bright blue, like the sky on a spring day, a little darker around her pupils. On her pale skin, her freckles, mostly light brown but also some that were a little darker, spread over her nose and cheeks. Half hidden behind her black hair, her slightly rounded ears were almost never fully visible..."

Many authors describe their character in a long paragraph on the first chapter they appear in. And, as we saw in the last chapter, it gives off the expression of a Mary Sue - So let's try again.

"Being rather full of herself, she never would've called herself ugly. And she wasn't to be honest – maybe a little plain and ordinary, but not really ugly. Everything in her face was thin and long. Her face itself, her lips and her nose. Everything, except for her rounded ears, thick eyebrows and round eyes, in fact. […] "Give me one of those," Jane said with a snaggletoothed smirk, digging her buck teeth into her lip.[...]"

Take your time describing. Little bits and pieces don't give your readers too much information, and they can combine them as the story goes on. Sure, there's nothing wrong with giving long descriptions with many synonyms and metaphors, but it soon can get old if you do it with every character, as it can happen that a whole chapter consists of 70% description. Like in Twilight, where it happened with Edward's eyes. We get that he has beautiful eyes that look like liquid gems. Seriously. No need to tell us twenty times each chapter. And beautiful looks too. But basically, that's just a personal preference - But it's worth a try, as spending less time on your character's look often has a positive effect.

What about our character Sasha now? By now, she has a name and an ash brown pixie cut. Now she needs a face. I think I'll give her a slightly square-shaped face, like Paris Hilton for example. With that, let's give her a small mouth, a short, slightly stubby nose and slightly slanted eyes that are... mh... amber? I like thick eyebrows, so let's give her those too. And her skin will be fair, but tan.

So now she's a floating head with a face and a name. Creepy as hell. She needs a body.

And that she'll get next chapter – see you then!

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Welp, hope you liked it. The body chapter will be next, then. Else it would've been too long, as I don't want to make the chapters too long. Again, don't feel insulted. The face shapes and stuff are mainly if you draw too, so you'll avoid the infamous same-face syndrome. But having different facial features can also be nice in stories - as you can accentuate a small nose or full cheeks great when you're writing. We'll have the looks done in two or three chapters. After that, we'll start thinking about things like powers, personality and how others treat your character. uvu

-Bird


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